Essentially, the assigned MAC means nothing concerning the hardware. The MAC is not written to an of the chips and as long as they are unique in a network, they will work just fine.

Thanks, I had assumed MAC was written into the chips [eeproms].

after reaserching this that's right you need to burn the mac to the chip

best way to do this cheaply is get an old NIC PCI card and get the mac from that and burn that address to it

then throw away the old PCI card that way you will have a unique address aswell

What does it matter unless you accidentally run both ethernet controllers on the same network segment? Or am I wrong on this? The MAC is only broadcast on the LAN and never goes out over the WAN regardless of whatever technology is being used. At least that is what I thought. Sell it to someone in Bulgaria.

Most likely. Note that in the top left hand corner of the top view there is not made in Italy lettering, just a blanked out section. They probably could not import them through customs being shipped from Asia saying made in Italy, so they blanked it out. Follow the money.

Here is a picture from the official Arduino product page:http://arduino.cc/en/uploads/Main/ArduinoMega2560_R3_Front.jpg

Essentially, the assigned MAC means nothing concerning the hardware. The MAC is not written to an of the chips and as long as they are unique in a network, they will work just fine.

Thanks, I had assumed MAC was written into the chips [eeproms].

after reaserching this that's right you need to burn the mac to the chip

best way to do this cheaply is get an old NIC PCI card and get the mac from that and burn that address to it

then throw away the old PCI card that way you will have a unique address aswell

What does it matter unless you accidentally run both ethernet controllers on the same network segment? Or am I wrong on this? The MAC is only broadcast on the LAN and never goes out over the WAN regardless of whatever technology is being used. At least that is what I thought. Sell it to someone in Bulgaria.

that's a thought yes as MAC is only really a LOCAL LAN thing. I would need unique MACs as I use MAC Binding on my router or it takes hours to assign an IP via DhCP

By including the logo he is claiming the boards were made by Arduino. There are not. By including the logo he is lying. By including the logo he is not "very honest".

Unfortunately, the way the internet works, probably no one has the resources to go after ripoff artists in other countries except for CocaCola and Apple.

Hello againArduino may not have the resources to chase "Arduino fraud" but we could have a "Does this look genuine" sticky for people to post links before they buy. I, personally, would not be able to tell the difference between a genuine board and a fake (although I am a little wiser now) so I would guess lots of people are in this situation. Searching for a few minutes on ebay reveals a few "not so sure" boards so this could also serve as a 'name and shame' which could affect their business.I have bought from the seller in question and found him to be very straightforward and honest so I would give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he was taken in himself. However, my policy is to buy some 'official' products to help out and some cheaper products to keep within budget and I object to being deceived.Mrs Z

Genuine boards are sold by the people on the distributor list (which are listed here: http://arduino.cc/en/Main/Buy ) for about $30 for an Uno.I don't know if ANY of them sell on eBay, and certainly not for half the normal price.

So that means that nearly all of the boards you see on eBay are clones.This divides into approximately three types:1) Value-added clones. There are some vendors who offer Arduino compatibles with assorted added features, different shapes, or other changes. Seeeduino. Freetronics. Adafruit. Modern Device Corp. Sparkfun. (note that several of these vendors sell both Real Arduinos AND alternatives.) These are mostly in the true spirit of open source; they've taken the reference design and DONE things to it that make it better in some way (from someone's point of view.) Sometimes cheaper, too.2) Minimal-effort clones. These are simple duplications of the Arduino reference design, sometimes exactly as published, sometimes with a new name or silkscreen. (note that the PUBLISHED Arduino design does not LOOK like the official Arduino; it doesn't have any of the fancy silkscreen, for instance.) They should be marketed as being "Arduino xxx compatible" rather than "real." These aren't so meritorious as the value-added clones, but at least they get the basics trademark law and the Arduino team's desires.3) Deceptive clones. Marketed as true Arduinos, with a board (and perhaps even packaging) designed to look a much like a real Arduino as possible. Also known as "counterfeits." Sleazy scum; if you ask me. Anyone who goes to that much effort should have put it into doing something useful instead of counterfeiting. A minimal-effort clone has value if sold through channels where normal Arduinos aren't sold, or even if it's just at a lower price. A counterfeit is just ... wrong.

That sorta means that if you find a $15 Arduino on eBay, the closer it looks to a real arduino, the worse the vendor is behaving. An annoying paradox.

Just because it's sold on ebay doesn't necessary mean it's a ripoff clone. The Due site does look like an "official" distributor, and it should be easy to check, since all thereferences are stated plainly.

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So that means that nearly all of the boards you see on eBay are clones.This divides into approximately three types:1) Value-added clones. ...2) Minimal-effort clones. ...3) Deceptive clones. ...

There is another phenomenon which is VERY prevalent, although not specifically a clonedripoff board. This is that many many products are listed with the word "Arduino" in thetitle, even though they have absolutely nothing to do with Arduino, other than being some sort of electronics board that could be connected to an Arduino, just like to anything else.

Obviously, these people are simply using the word Arduino to help their products pop up in web searches. Also, a big PITN.